Elusive Wildflowers Part 8 – Cardinal flower

Wahoo! Another beauty photographed. Never have I shot these before, but while out doing some river work (my favorite, the Piscataquog, and I’ll post about that soon) I found some near a pond’s runoff streams. This flower has become quite rare in some areas due to people picking and digging it up a lot. I can see why though – the red is intense. I had to actually back off some of the saturation because the camera was clipping the reds! They really stand out among the greens of the grasses, ferns and other plants.

Aren’t they gorgeous?? They tend to favor moist soils rich in humus which is why I found them alongside streams from a pond. The streams eventually run into the Piscataquog. All shot with the OM 90mm macro at varying apertures. River landscapes coming soon!